[PC] Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare #game #review

Today I review Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare PC Campaign. I've got a lot of impressions and let's start with tech part:

[PC] Battlefield Hardline #game #review

I have no time to write reviews and finish to play a game once per several months. So I've got seven items in my to review list and I decided to use it as a stack. This way today is the review for Battlefield Hardline that I've finished to play several days ago :)

First of all I want to highlight that campaign becomes like a TV series. There are teasers after episodes and review of the previous episodes before. Several Years ago I've noticed that the part of Call of Duty or Battlefield looks like movie and now games evolution goes even further :)

[PC, WindowsPhone, PS3] ToPlay #list

 

I have #ToPlay list for ages. Previously I was cleaning it up.Yesterday I had idea to share it. Here it comes :)

Legend:
"+" played, finished
"+>" played, still installed
 "?" not sure to play

#PC
+> Crysis 3 (3D tech short review)
+ Battlefield 3 (short review PC #gaming impressions of the week #1)

+ MoH Warfighter (short review PC #gaming impressions of the week #1)
+ CoD Black Ops 2 (short review PC #gaming impressions of the week #1)
+ Far Cry 3 (short review PC #gaming impressions of the week #3, #4, #5) 
+ BF 4
+ CoD Ghosts
+ Halo SA  (review)
+ Bioshock Infinite

[gamedev] Game Developers Conference 2014 #gdlviv

I've attended  Game Developers Conference 2014 last Saturday. It's taken about 10 hours, so lots of impressions to share.

[R&D] Unity First Impressions #3 #gamedev

We've in progress with a new Unity #game for mobile devices. Working on gameplay with early #prototype and sharing more first impressions.

We can't share a demo and material on #game it so some funny stuff instead  and more funny stuff in the end of article ;)

1. Development in unity is specified for the desktop, but when it comes to mobile devices, small problems that complicate the process and increase the testing time appear. I wasn’t able to find a way to emulate gyroscope accelerometer data etc. while testing in the editor itself. It all comes down to a long compilation process and then you still need to transfer everything to a devise or an emulator, which also takes more than enough time. Another thing that’s even more uncomfortable is editing the touch events, because they cannot be emulated with the cursor. A problem like that did not exist in the Flash+Starling. In fact, there was even a gesture emulation. Here you need to work with what you have. In other words, to use the keyboard and come up with something else. If you want to check the click through rate of the desktop objects, you’ll have to write a similar code, that reacts to the movement of the cursor with the pressed down button. By the way, if you write a code, optimized for multitouch, for pressing more than one button at the same time, during the reaction realization only one will work. It means that you’ll have to write a code for touch tracking anyway and there isn’t a way to make sure if it works in the editor during the quick launch, only after a long compilation and installation process. Long story short, there’s enough trouble.

2. When working with 2D gui objects, the incomprehensible coordinate system with the beginning in the center of the screen brings more problems. What I mean is that a point, which in the standard screen coordinate system is located in the upper left corner of the screen and its coordinates are (0:0), will have (-Screen.width/2 ; Screen.height/2) coordinates in the unity system. That doesn’t seem to be quite comfortable :) Maybe I just haven’t found a way to change the coordinate origin settings yet and everything is a lot more simpler. By the way, 2d elements can be set in the 3d coordinate system. Then the location on the screen can be measured with the floating point number from 0 to 1 and it automatically redraws after you change the screen size. It’s cool, but not when you need a pixel accuracy.

3. I almost managed to repeat the Flash application structure by operating the process from one class (a sort of Main). To do that, you just need to create an Empty GameObject and attach the code to it.

4. There’s also a lack of such ActionScript feature as the addEventListener. For a class, inherited from MonoBehaviour, there’s a possibility to reload the functions, that are called at specific events. There’s a lot of them (https://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/MonoBehaviour.html). You could say, that there’s one for every occasion, including the events, that react to collisions with other 3d or 2d objects, the beginning and the end of render, cursor click etc. However, there’s one negative side: if you need to track an event for many objects on the scene, you won’t be able to do that with a simple addEventListener line in the cycle. There’s more than one way out of this situation, but none of them is that simple. Such solutions aren’t good enough, if you need to quickly create something new and check if it works without fixating on the realization of such mechanism.

5. Unlike the MovieClip with one main class, the object in unity and prefab can have as many classes like that as you like. It’s really cool and handy. You can add a code while the program is running and in flash it was impossible. Access to such class: while in MovieClip we’re working directly with variables and methods, in unity GameObject we’ll have to use the GetComponent function. It looks something like this: (myGameObj.GetComponent("sizeClass") as sizeClass).width = 500;  you can save the link in the variable, so that there’s no need to invoke it every time. It codes well)))

6. The physics is great and simple to use. It saves time during prototype creation and especially things like inert object moving and their collision. Before in most cases mechanics like that had to be written manually or you needed an external framework. Here there’s no additional installations and complications. It’s enough to watch a couple of video lessons to make a judgment about the simplicity of physics http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/physics

We've got a demo, working on features and playability but with unique gameplay can't show it as I've told before. So instead of sketches I thought to share funny and completely unplayable demo of Angry Birds in 3D (Web and Android Builds).

Also I'm still planning to expand Unity on Windows Phone impressions in previous article R&D for Moblile Game Development.

Previous parts of this article are here [R&D] Unity First Impressions #2 #gamedev and here [R&D] Unity First Impressions #1 #gamedev

That’s all for now, see You soon :)

[R&D] Unity First Impressions #2 #gamedev

We've started up with a new Unity #game for mobile devices recently. Working on #tech demo/#prototype and sharing more first impressions.

1. What I like most is good documentation. The video lessons from their official site were enough for the beginning. Now I’m also watching the lessons here http://www.unity3dstudent.com/category/modules/ . The examples on this site are only on Js. It would seem to be uncomfortable if you want to write on C#, but you can easily write a code of equal value on both languages and the best part is that scripts on unity can be also written on both of them and they will work together without any problems)) I’m not sure yet which language to choose. JS is kind of closer to flash, but C# is easier to read when it comes to large amounts of code. I hope I’ll decide soon.
   
   
2. The most complicated thing so far is to understand the unity application structure itself. At some points it crosses path’s with flash and is complicated by 3d frills. It’s hard at the very beginning, because after working with 2d graphics it was a little unusual that you need to at least set the lights for the scene, or else it will be dark like in… )) After 2d, it’s also hard to allocate objects in 3d space. A simple drag-and-drop with the cursor doesn’t always work. Sometimes you’ll have to switch between different projections and drag the object in each one of them.
    
3. It’s important to understand what prefab is. It’s a MovieClip analogue, only with a more complex structure. I didn’t puzzle out all of the details yet, but they can be easily created on the scene with a simple drag-and-drop as well as with a dynamic code.
   
   
4. What also made my day is that if class contains public parameters, they are shown in fields of object inspector and can be edited manually from there.
   
   
5. I really liked the simplicity of adding physics to the object. It’s quite simple to add a Rigidbody component to the object and it will begin responding to the physics. You can set such parameters as weight, gravity etc. The manipulation with physical factors also doesn’t seem to be quite complicated. For example, gm.rigidbody.AddForce( Vector3(0,20,0)); - is a sort of a way to kick the object up (it will gain a one-time speed-up depending on the indicated vector). There are a couple of more useful things like that, which can come in handy and will save plenty of time for quickly written trash-games.
   
   
6. I also haven’t got the time yet to figure out how you can simulate the accelometer and gyro sensor on your pc. Once again, I’ve spent enormous amount of time on testing one code line, which responds to the accelometer.
   
   
7. In the morning, I heard that a new version of unity with 2d native support was released. I’m curious about what they came up with :)

We've got a demo working demo but with unique gameplay can't show it,  So sketches next I guess.

Also I'm still planning to expand Unity on Windows Phone impressions in previous article R&D for Moblile Game Development

That’s all for now, see You soon :)

[R&D] Unity First Impressions #1 #gamedev

I'm happy to post much more #gamedev related articles recently :)

We've started up with a new Unity #game for mobile devices and finally it's with unique #gameplay that we invented or mixed to tell more precise.

So working on #tech demo/#prototype and sharing first impressions.

This is our opinion about Unity so far:

1. The coding is bearable, but unlike Flash, all kinds of simple operations are more complex, for example:
something you could spell out in flash like this
mc.z+=10;
here will look like this:
transform.position=new Vector3(transform.position.x,transform.position.y,transform.position.z+10);

2. It’s cool that you can add your code files to each scene object just like it once could be done in the Flash with AS2. It’s kind of a convenience plus, but it’s not clear yet how to cooperate with objects, roughly speaking, from other files.
And where’s the main file of the Main program/class isn’t clear too.
As well it is unclear how to operate with the dynamically created objects.

3. The cell phone development is kind of moronic.
The preview starts up fast, but you’re not able to set a specific screen size, because it depends from the way the panels are arranged and on my monitor it’s really small. The only way to test it with a decent proportion is to prepare a build for either your PC or your phone and indicate the size directly. The problem is that in both cases the build preparation will take lots of time even for a couple of code lines, not to mention the installation time on your phone. In Flash it’s quite simple. All you have to do is launch the adl. It’s quick and the result is almost the same as the one on your phone.
To sum up, it’s kind of disappointing, when all you need to do is change one small line or even one number, but you have to wait for about 5 minutes to see the result.

We've got more impressions written down for the second article, the translation is in progress...

Also I'm planning to expand Unity on Windows Phone impressions in previous article R&D for Moblile Game Development

See You soon ;) 

PC #gaming impressions of the week #2

I keep on trying to write more and more recent on larger PC games I play. It's mostly shooter - FPS, You know ;) Expanding this article PC #gaming at home: impressions, games, tech, stats, benchmarks and adding new ones like this.

I had a lot of work this week, happy to do everything as planned and the only day to play was Friday and the only one game played.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 [Online Game Code]  Mission with escape on cars and MQ drones is speedy as hell, keeping involved

Small spider bot is interesting and navigation over pipelines is a bit challenging and  confusing #nowplaying

2. The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings Enhanced Edition bought for $4.99 (-75%) on Steam. I wanted to try for a year or more, decided not to wait for the 3rd part, downloading... :)  

Hope You like it, welcome to discus :)
Work less, play more, have an amazing weekend, see You soon :) #gaming  

PC #gaming impressions of the week #1

I'm going to try write more and more recent on larger PC games I play. It's mostly shooter - FPS, You know ;) Expanding this article PC #gaming at home: impressions, games, tech, stats, benchmarks and adding new ones like this.

1. I've finished Medal of Honor: Warfighter [Download] today at night - it's amazing in ULTRA, lloks like 60 or 120 FPS, haven't find way to measure, smooth run makes gameplay completely different, headshots are quite easy on 1920x1080 on 27 inches :) Played in 2D, I didn't manag to make TriDef work %)

2. Downloaded 20+ GB of Battlefield in 2+ hours on my 20 Mbps of Battlefield 3 [Download] from Origin and let's guess, Yes: It also crashes in 3D with TriDef. Hope I find the solution without buying new glasses from Nvidia. Anybody any ideas? Crysis 3 [Download] the only game that works in 3D properly so far %)

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 [Online Game Code] 120 FPS maxout I've already mentioned :) Engine is old, graphics is no so good and gameplay types and ideas are perfect. Defence mission in 2025 with drones, robots, turrets, tactical map and so on is amazing and the next rushy in 1986 rage and shortgun is geat too :) #nowplaying

Hope You like it, welcome to discus :)
Work less, play more, have an amazing weekend see You soon :) #gaming

HDD/SSD

Previus HDD said: S.M.A.R.T Status Bad: Backup and replace.
So replaced wit Intel SSD 335 series 128 GB and WD Green Series 2 TB

HDD read speed 116 MBps

SSD read speed 186 MBps

Overall performance disk system benchmark 7,3/7/9

Results: Win 7 Home Basic 32 bit starts in 43 seconds (30 sec to init hardware) Metro List Light loads levels in 2-3 seconds :)

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (Inmpressions)

 I've finished campaign more then a week ago and had no time to write review.

The game taken me about two weeks to pass a mission per day and several per day on Friday evening ^) Missions on evolution saved the game for me strong addition :) Also the game looked much easier for me, maybe it's a skill, I haven't played the first Starcraft or more likely it's Zerg's brute force ;)

Strongly recommended, even better then chess!

Flash Gamm 2011 Kyiv Impressions

Flash Gamm 2011 Kyiv was just great.

The best of all I liked the atmosphere of changes. The year before everything was Flash. Stable plans, proved workflow and so on. This year everybody is trying to make their successful future on new basically mobile platforms with new technologies and tech advantages. Inspiring :)

And step by step on lectures I've attend:

Day 1

1. “Workshop: First steps with AIR Native Extensions for Android and iOS” by Adobe Evangelists Lee Brimelow and Tom Krcha - AIR Native Extensions is a technology that makes Photoshop work on touch devices so You can make Your own [Photoshop] game with it.

2. “Become a sponsorship ninja by utilizing FlashGameLicense.com” -  all clear about the platform that fuels flash game industry. Would be great to hear this lecture 3-5 years ago :)

3. My presentation can be found here Applied Social Magic - no comments in this review format %)

4. “AlternativaPhysics: physic simulation on Flash is easy” - I had a lot questions to discuss after my lecture, so missed nearly all the session, the part I heard was great. Hope my time for 3D games and advanced physics that I love is coming soon.

5. “Developing successful games on Unity3D” - Unity is great, we love it, don't love Tegra that much but still can do great games with Unity %)

Day 2

1. “High performance cross-platform made easy. Creating a native app in iOS and Android in 5 minutes” - Visual Studio and Marmelade - strong and native as for me solution for developer on different platforms. Bad: no Flash (AS3) support now, good: going to be soon next year. If change (upgrade) ActionScript 3 and Flash technology for something for some reasons C++ fits me best.

2. “Making games fun” - by Denis Romanko is pretty academic, respect for the system approach, will study an presentation once again when it's published.

3. “Accelerating 2D and 3D Games on the GPU” by Adobe Game Evangelist Tom Krcha
- UDK adn 60 FPS Shooter Game on iPad nothing to add yet.

4. “FlashJS open source game engine on Javascript and HTML5 for flash developer” - completely unusual for me idea, it works and it's open source.

5. “HTML5 for mobile platforms” - excellent results with optimization for rather slow 3GS device. Pity can't find True Token on the web (show me please a link if anybody knows) and look at working examples HTML5 version of  Mad Shapes if I don't mess up. The best way to jump start HTML5 I guess.

6. “Backgrounds for 2D games” - by Oleg Akimov. Another academic session, when Oleg speaks I wish I to be an Artist :)

7.  “Artist + game designer = game” - from Absolutist very nice idea of workflow optimization for industrial games production.

Flash GAMM KYIV 2011 Official Video - great idea to show the movie during the conference, funny questions and answers, didn't watch to the end - had to run away to go home.

Thanks everybody who made it possible: organizers, speakers, listeners, all the game developers and players!